Digital display technology attracts £6m

Aiming to transform the way in which we interact with displays, Oxford University spinout, Bodle Technologies, has attracted £6 million in Series A funding.

Bodle is developing reflective display technology for a range of applications including wearables and IoT displays, which it claims, is suitable in both flexible and on-glass displays.

The round was led by Parkwalk Advisors, with participation from new investor, Woodford Patient Capital Trust, as well as returning backers, Oxford Sciences Innovation, and the Oxford Technology and Innovations EIS Fund advised by Oxford Investment Consultants.

According to Bodle, the 6m will be used to scale the company and advance through the prototype stage.

The hope is that the technology could turn static printed materials into low-cost dynamic displays. Bodle claims the power needed to project an image is reduced with its technology, eliminating power requirements for a static image altogether. This is apparently achieved via the pixels’ ability to reflect light.

Colour in the image is said to come from a structural interference effect, while the colour display is created by switching the refractive index of an ultrathin layer of phase change material. Bodle claims the materials are capable of a high enough refresh rate to deliver video. It refers to its technology as ‘solid-state reflective display’ (SRD).

Mike Clary, CEO at Bodle, says: “Electronic displays continue to be outnumbered by the vast number of static, non-digital displays around us – in the form of permanently printed text and graphics. Our technology offers the chance to seamlessly integrate displays onto the surfaces and objects around us. It enables a natural display of vivid colours, which is unconstrained by hard-wired mains power or excessive battery drain, which even acts in no-energy mode when required.”

Moray Wright, CEO at Parkwalk Advisors, adds: “In an increasingly connected world driven by the acquisition and processing of data, there will be more and more sharing of information via electronic display. Not just through our smartphones, but wherever we demand human interaction and intervention. It may be through simple displays on personal wearable and IoT devices, or increasingly by seamlessly integrating displays onto the surfaces and objects around us. SRD offers the chance for us to ‘display anywhere’.”